Focus on Allergy

Allergies occur when your immune system mistakes a normally harmless allergen for a dangerous invader and moves to destroy it, producing an allergic reaction. What exactly causes this response, and what are the best treatments to combat it?

Host Brian McDonough chats with Dr. Avery August, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, about his research regarding how allergens affect the immune system.

It's estimated that 4 - 8% of the U.S. population has at least one food allergy, and the incidence rate appears to be growing. How do we explain this harmful trend in public health, and what can clinicians and patients do to help mitigate the risk of developing food allergies?

Host Kathy King is joined by Debra Indorato, nutrition advisor for Kids With Allergies, which is a division of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. The two discuss the latest understandings and dietetic approaches to food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances.

The simple act of going out to eat can be a tricky proposition for people dealing with gluten intolerance or sensitivity issues. A new portable device is aiming to help people with this problem by allowing them to test food’s gluten content and help find foods that they are able to eat.

Host Dr. Matt Birnholz talks with guest Carla Borsoi, Vice President of Marketing at 6Sensor Labs, about how this device will assist people living with gluten intolerance or sensitivity issues.

For most people, the home is a refuge and an oasis, a place to feel safe. But few ever wonder whether their homes and the everyday household items they use to clean and maintain them could be detrimental to their health.

Joining Dr. Brian McDonough to discuss the unsettling health risks behind common household items, and what consumers should keep an eye on, is Andre LaCroix, Vice President of Easy Breathe, Inc.

What is the connection between allergies and asthma? And, why is allergy testing important in symptomatic patients? Host Mario R. Nacinovich Jr., MSc, Managing Partner at AXON Communications, welcomes Dr. Inderpal Randhawa, Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, UC Irvine School of Medicine and Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. In this expert interview sponsored by Quest Diagnostics, Dr. Randhawa will discuss the burden of asthma in the U.S., the challenge of adequately controlling asthma symptoms, the association between asthma and allergy or allergic triggers, and the use of NIH-approved IgE tests to diagnose allergen triggers.

Over the past decade, Food Protein Enterocolitis, or FPIES, has emerged as the most actively studied non–IgE-mediated gastrointestinal food allergy because of its acute onset, severity of symptoms, and distinctive clinical features. Yet as a rare allergic disorder of infancy and young childhood, it is often misinterpreted and misdiagnosed in clinical practice, leading to difficult treatment paths for patients and their families. Joining Dr. Renee Matthews to present a case history from the vantage point of a patient's mother, including challenges faced in reaching the correct diagnosis and starting effective treatment regimens, is Jennifer Kandt.

As an unforgivingly cold, frigid winter in America has led to the explosive release of tree pollens over a short period this spring, seasonal allergies have returned with a vengeance. Says, Dr Mitchell Gaynor, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, this could make for one of the worst allergy seasons of all time. How can primary care providers ready themselves on the frontlines of this mass allergy assault? Dr. Brian McDonough and Dr. Gaynor discuss strategies to keep clinicians on top of this emerging threat, including new understandings of eco-genetic mechanisms of allergic disease.

Do allergies to various types of fungi trigger worsening of asthma? Are patients with severe asthma sensitive to certain species of fungus more than others? Dr. John Heffner, professor of medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University, discusses how patients with asthma might benefit from antifungal agents. Does off-label use of itraconazole for patients with severe asthma require long-term adherence for optimal asthma control? Dr. Maurice Pickard hosts.